


Memories in the dark

by Tardisbluecurls



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky Barnes Feels, Gen, I'm garbage with tags, Pre-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, WWII, Winter Soldier Remembers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 05:04:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16211987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tardisbluecurls/pseuds/Tardisbluecurls
Summary: After a mission, the Winter Soldier has a strange dream. He doesn't know why he is having it, or who the people in it are.





	Memories in the dark

He was walking down the street when he heard it. A familiar voice was yelling at someone. He sighed. Not again, he thought as he started to run toward the raised voices. This has to be the third time this week. Sure enough, when he rounded the corner, he found Steve yelling at a group of four tall muscular men, dressed in the same uniform he was in, albeit much more disheveled than his. Even from this distance, Bucky could smell the alcohol coming from the group of soldiers. He rolled his eyes and swore under his breathe as he listened to the small blond shouting. 

He leaned up against the cool brick wall to watch. There was no use trying to breakup the fight that was brewing; Steve would just get angry and there would be a major row between the two. One day the little shit will settle down. At least I hope. Why can’t he be stronger? We need men like him in the army, not scum like these idiots. They probably don’t even know the right end of a rifle from the wrong one. I”d rather have one of Steve backing me up than a whole battalion of men like this. Though he wanted nothing more than to help his friend, he waited, knowing his chance would come. 

“You bastards don’t even deserve to wear that uniform if this is how you re going to act! There are men like me who--” Steve was yelling, his face turning red with anger. The small man Had his back to the wall, and the soldiers were slowly getting closer. There wasn’t an ounce of fear on his face though. He had fought bigger men than these before, and could hold his own in a fair fight, at least for a few moments. 

“Men like you?” jeered one of the soldiers. “You cant barely even be counted as a man, you little pipsqueak!” The other men laughed raucously as the apparent leader of the group faked a punch at Steve. Even that didn’t phase him though, Bucky noted with something like pride. 

“You ain't even as tall as my girl back home!” slurred another soldier, stumbling a bit as he pinched at Steve, who swatted his hand away.

“Call me whatever you want, I’m more of a man than any of you idiots will ever be!”Steve spit out, keeping his eyes on all the men. There was more laughing as they backed him up against the wall. By this point Steve was visibly shaking, although Bucky Knew it wasn’t from fear like the other soldiers thought. Instead, it was anger, and Bucky knew that any minute his friends anger would bubble over and all hell would break loose. He made no move towards Steve and the soldiers, just cleared his throat to catch their attention.

The first solder who had spoken looked over his way in surprise. None of them had even realized someone had been watching them. The worry that had been in his eyes about being caught changed to humor, however, when he recognized Bucky. It was a soldier in his unit named Jordan Arnold, fresh from basic training and who constantly thought he was better than anyone else. “Oh, its just you, Sarge. You hear this guy? Thinks he more of a man than us.” He cackled as he roughly pushed Steve up against the wall before looking at his group to see their reaction. “You wanna piece of him before us seeing as you outrank us?”

“Yeah Barnes, show him what a real man looks like!” yelled another soldier, the rest of them laughing.

Bucky made no move towards them, just smiled at them. He had seen the glint in Steve's eyes when the focus had shifted to him, and he knew what was coming. This was nothing new. The two had been through many fights together, and he was sure there would be more in the future “Nah, I”m good. You guys have fun with it.” The soldiers looked at each other and shrugged, grinning with anticipation of what they thought was an easy fight. 

“Whatever you say, Sarge!” Arnold laughed, throwing a fake salute his way before tuning around, directly into Steves fist. The other soldiers stood in shock for a second before trying to join the fray. All Bucky could see was Steves arms flailing around, making contact more often than not. All Bucky could do was chuckle. Guess these guys haven’t heard of Brooklyns personal honey badger. 

Steve was handling it well, until Arnold tried to sneak up behind him with what looked like a brick. With a sigh Bucky strode over and snatched him back. “Yeah, that's not gonna happen, Private.” He said before his fist made contact with Arnolds stomach, who soundlessly fell to the ground, gasping for air. The rest of Arnolds crew saw what happened, and after a couple of half hearted punches from them, they backed away from Steve. 

“Next time you guys are itching for a fight, I suggest you find someone your own size. It seems like this guy is too much for you.” 

“Like hell he is!” a round of angry protests came from the group. “He was asking for it, Sarge!” 

Steve looked like he was going to say something back, but Bucky cut him off before he could. “I”m calling bullshit on that. You guys reek to high heaven of alcohol, you’re strolling around looking for a fight, and you corner one guy because you think you’re bad asses. Well, I’ll tell you right now, you’re not. You’re nothing but a bunch of cowards. Get it out of you're system now, boys, because before long, we’re going to war, and you'll see what happens to cowards. Now, get the hell back to base, and let your CO know you’re on fire watch for the rest of the week. Trust me, I”m going to ask to make sure you have. You pull this shit again, I”m going to have your asses court martialed. Understood?” 

The three young men standing in front of him looked frightened at the prospect of a court martial and nodded silently. Bucky just looked at them in disgust for a moment. “ Get out of here, idiots. And don’t forget to get this one.” He nudged Arnolds leg, which earned him an angry glare at the still out of breath man. His friends came over and hauled him off the ground. As they walked by, Arnold muttered under his breath. “You’ll pay for that, Sargent.” 

Bucky just smiled at him. “Oh please, by all means, make me pay for it.” HE watched as the group walked around the corner before he turned to Steve, who was slouched against the wall. He looked a little worse for wear, his nose bloodied and the start of a black eye already showing. He pulled out his handkerchief and handed it to Steve, who shot him a grateful look as he held it to his nose. 

“Really Stevie? Again? Isn’t this the third one this week?” Bucky pulled him into a standing position, checking over his friend as he talked. “ Isn’t that enough times in one week? Whats Ma going to say when she sees you this time?”

“Nah, its only the second one this week. The guy who hit that little boy was last week. Remember?” Steve smiled his most innocent looking grin at his friend, who just rolled his eyes and bent down to retrieve Steves hat. He brushed it off before he placed it back on his head, not as gentley as he could have.

“ Oh, that makes it so much better. You know Ma always fusses at me when you do this. Thinks you’re a sweet angel who needs to be protected. Pfft. Little does she know that you’re the one who always starts it!”

Steve laughed, adjusting his hat so it sat better on his head. “Your Ma is an angel, not me. Just don’t tell her what happened.” 

“ You’re an idiot. She’ll Know. She always knows.” Satisfied there were no more visible wounds other than the shiner, Bucky backed away. “How ya feel?”

Steve shrugged. “ Eh. Its not bad. They weren’t the best fighters. They just got a couple lucky shots.” He handed the handkerchief back to Bucky, who shoved it back in his pocket. Steve saw Buckys eye roll and chuckled. “Its true. But its over. Lets just get out of here. Did your ma cook a stew tonight? She normally does on Wednesdays.”

All Bucky could do was laugh. “ yeah, she did. I guess you're asking for an invite to dinner?” Steves sly grin said it all. “Fine. You know she wont mind and extra mouth to feed. You get to tell her why you have a black eye though.”

“Wait, I don’t wanna tell her that!” 

“ Too bad, punk.” Bucky started walking down the alley. “ Lets go, Stevie. We’ll be late if we don’t hurry.” Steve ran to catch up to his friend.

They two walked in silence for a moment, side by side as usual, their hands in their coat pockets. Steve nudged Bucky with his elbow, who looked down at his blond friend.

“Thanks for always being there when I need you, Buck.”

“Anytime, Steve. I”m with you till the end of the Line.” Bucky said with a smile. 

*** 

The Winter soldier was jolted out of his sleep by the truck stopping. They had arrived back to the base, he knew. It had been a long operation, longer than usual. He heard the orders being barked in Russian outside of the truck, and he straightened up, his metal arm clenching up on him a few times before he got out. What was this nonsense, these dreams. Normally he thought of nothing but what Hydra told him to think. This dream unsettled him. He didn’t know who the people were, who this Steve was, but it felt familiar somehow.

The scene replayed in his mind as he strode through the building, making his way to the same spot as he did after every mission, headed to get his brain wiped. It was all he knew; missions than being wiped, than repeating thr whole thing over again. He was the Asset, and emotionless machine. He didn’t know how to handle something like this dream. Had he ever? 

As he walked to the chair and allowed to scientists strap him in, he kept replaying the last part of the dream. What did it mean? Who was the blond man? Whatever it was, he felt something when he thought about it. I’m with you till the end of the-- The jolt of pain from the machine wiped out every thought The Winter Soldier had. The last thing he remembered before all his memories vanished was the small blond man. Then, there was nothing. 

“Take the Asset to the chamber.”


End file.
